MALAPPURAM: The government order which came early this month to stay all the appointments and branch openings by district cooperative banks as a prelude to the formation of the Kerala Bank has created confusion among banks and thousands of job aspirants. The order issued well before setting up the committee to prepare a detailed plan invited objections from employees and some of the banks. The government had allocated Rs 10 lakh in the last budget to set up the committee, but nothing happened so far.
Sources in the sector say the committee would come up within a few weeks, and the government has issued a clarification. “The confusion has been cleared, and there is no ban on appointments anywhere. The ban prevails only on creating new posts and the opening of branches. The vacancies are being reported to PSC, and further proceedings are up to them to take,” S. Lalithambika IAS, registrar of coop societies, told DC.
Thousands of applicants are waiting for the rank list from the PSC which had conducted the test for the post of clerk/cashier in December 2015. Meanwhile, the general body meeting of the Malappuram District Coop Bank has passed a resolution seeking to freeze the order of the registrar on opening new branches and appointments for an uncertain period until a further decision from the government. “It will affect thousands of candidates for around 1,000 vacancies throughout the state. There is no clarity on the ban on the opening of branches as the plan for the Kerala Bank is yet to be charted,” said A. Ahmed Kutty, its president.
